Wednesday, August 22, 2012

This week, as I plan my little mini vacation to California, I am newly inspired by my collection of Vintage Travel Posters that I've saved to my computer over the years. From what I can tell, these seem to be authentic, ranging from the 1930's to the 1960's in their conception. But I don't claim to be an expert about these things so if you know one to be a modern tribute to the style, I'd be interested in knowing.

Travel Posters used to be the chief way that travel agencies drew attention to exotic destinations, long before the invention of television and the internet. The average Joe would walk by an agency on a rainy day in the city and dream of endless sunshine and suntanned bikinis, never realizing that this deadly combination would soon be considered irresponsible advertising. California was the ideal location for dreaming, and it was the place where the 'beautiful people' lived, especially after WWI. So California relied heavily on its tourist trade as a lucrative source of income for the state.

The use of bright colors and whimsical art contributed to the success of the poster and it's ability to draw attention.

My favorites are the ones featuring the bay area and wine country. I'm most drawn to the desert heat of southern California but I think the northern regions provide a more aesthetically pleasing subject matter, when it comes to poster art.

Bathing Beauties of every decade graced the posters advertising the beaches, as if to say: "Yes, the beaches are nice but we know what you really want to see."

Sunsets over water were largely highlighted in the use of color, since the hues of these particular sunsets weren't the same over land and therefore the rest of the country viewed them as almost 'fantastical' in nature.

Southern California advertising almost always involved a female, to some extent.

Surfing became a hugely popular draw as well, especially in the 1950's.

United Airlines had a large number of travel posters highlighting its most popular destination. This one is my favorite:

And last, but not least, my all time favorite travel poster. Not vintage. Not California. But nevertheless...genius:

Anyway, back to packing! Hopefully I'll be able to shoot some video footage for you all with my sister-friend Lu, this weekend.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

A big thank you to Ursula Gibbons of The Darling Plum for her sponsorship during the month of August.

The Darling Plum is another great Etsy shop featuring retro inspired clothing for women and children at reasonable prices!

My favorite pieces currently available are the monogrammed bowling shirts for boys (love the retro fabrics paired w/ the solids) and the skirt below, modeled by the lady herself.

In addition to her lovely creations, Ursula and her husband also have a photography business, Tim Gibbons Photography, for those of you local to the Naples Fl. area, or willing to travel. Ursula will be happy to style you up for your own retro inspired photo shoot!

Friday, August 17, 2012

It's been a while since I've mentioned my affiliates here on my blog and I think that's because I was gearing up for this new project. Once or twice a month, I'll be featuring a Whirling Turban bride who has supplied a testimonial of her experience. I think this is important since the idea of ordering your dress on line can be such a daunting concept and is actually warned against by most bridal shops and magazines. However the Whirling Turban wedding dress experience is very different than simply ordering a stock sized dress and hoping it will work. It's a tried and true process that uses your precise measurements to create a movie-star fit, probably a better one than any garment you'll ever own.

I hope you enjoy this feature and will give Whirling Turban a chance for your next big event. And thanks so much to Australian bride Melissa for providing us w/ her gorgeous photos and sweet story.

xoxo,
Ashley
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The Wedding Plan:
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Chris and I met in high school 10 years ago, and when we decided to get married, our main focus was on keeping things simple. We wanted our wedding to be uncomplicated and within a small budget. Neither of us are very good at following the norm...hey we dated for 10 years before getting married! So we decided to approach the event in our own way and not worry about what other people thought. Anything we could make ourselves, we did, doing away with a lot of pointless spending, and instead focusing on items we could re-use or re-purpose.

I love vintage style but when looking for a venue we quickly realised that something local would get out of control numbers-wise, so we decided to elope to Vegas! Surprisingly enough our closest friends and family were so keen to celebrate with us ,they decided to join us in Vegas for our retro Elvis-Inspired wedding.

The Dress:

I looked everywhere online for a dress and after an outing to local bridal shops quickly realised they had nothing in my taste or budget - I was not interested in paying overly inflated prices just because it had the word 'wedding' attached.

I had stumbled across Whirling turban a few years ago and saved some dress pictures into my wedding file. While looking for a dress, I just couldn't find anything I liked as much as the Whirling Turban dress!

After reading a bit more about the company and the ordering process I decided to give ordering a dress a go. I got a quote and was happy to find it fell within my budget; and the best part for me was that I could customize the dress to my choice of colour,fabric, style, and size. I liked knowing that the dress would be made to order and unique to me, and I was able to have a range of fabric samples sent out before committing to buy the dress so I could be sure of my choice.
I wasn't overly worried about ordering my dress online - I had planned and booked most of my wedding online and have been fortunate to always have positive experiences. The dress was paid for in stages and I was sent a fitting garment (loaner bodice) to check for size, so I felt confident that the girls at Whirling Turban knew what they were doing. I sent lots of emails and they always got back to me which was very reassuring.

I was so happy when the dress arrived; it was just what I wanted! I had lost a little weight during the ordering process, but had expected to take the dress to be altered locally if needed. In the end it cost me about $60 to have a local dressmaker take the dress in a little around my hips and then it was just perfect. I couldn't be happier with my dress. I cant decide if I should keep the dress as a memento or if I should dye it another colour so I can wear it more often...Perhaps I should just order another few dresses!

Thank you to the girls at Whirling turban for providing the great service that they do! Finding a vintage inspired dress in a classic style is quite difficult, and the quality of the fabric and dress were both excellent. I hope to be able to add to my collection in time.

Sincerely,
Melissa

(Melissa wore our Liz wedding dress design as pictured above, replacing the 3/4 sleeve with a short sleeve that was more in keeping with her vision and venue. We absolutely LOVE the elegant broach she added at the hip and her simple but stunning choice of birdcage veil. We wish you and Chris the best, and are thrilled to have been a part of your wedding day!-Love, Whirling Turban)